


Why Do I Love You?

by Avan522



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Angst, Depression, Engagement, F/F, Runaway Bride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:03:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27662435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avan522/pseuds/Avan522
Summary: Nicole has always loved Waverly even after she broke her heart.-Why do I miss her? She left me and broke my heart years ago? Nicole has never once forgotten the way she laughs or smiles. Waverly Earp will always be on her mind no matter how hard she tries to get rid of all the memories they had. Even the three years she spent away from Purgatory in the academy, six months doing combat training with special forces in Ireland and, working as a big city cop for two years which included a Las Vegas marriage in celebration of getting a job, Waverly stays in her mind like a tattoo.
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	Why Do I Love You?

_ Why do I miss her? She left me and broke my heart years ago? _ Nicole has never once forgotten the way she laughs or smiles. Waverly Earp will always be on her mind no matter how hard she tries to get rid of all the memories they had. Even the three years she spent away from Purgatory in the academy, six months doing combat training with special forces in Ireland and, working as a big city cop for two years which included a Las Vegas marriage in celebration of getting a job, Waverly stays in her mind like a tattoo. 

* * *

_“What did you want to talk to me about baby?”_ _A teenage Nicole asks as she sits on the homestead sofa._

_ “Nic I’m breaking up with you Champ asked me out and I said yes… I’m sorry but I only did this because I felt bad for you. I never should have let you think I liked you back.” Nicole felt her heartbreak not only is her girlfriend leaving her but apparently she never felt the same and is leaving her for the guy that made her life a living hell for years. _

_ “Fuck you Waverly I never thought you would break my heart like this I never want you to talk to me again so much for being together forever.” she grabbed her leather jacket and rushed out of the house. _

* * *

The welcome to Purgatory sign brought back a memory she tried to suppress for years but it always finds its way back she doubts Waverly is still in town especially with how smart she was that definitely takes the pain away for returning but Nedley needs her to take over for him and he only trusts her to take care of the residents of Purgatory so she took the job packed up her Toronto apartment and took the long drive back to her hometown where she got heartbroken and beaten every second the football players could. All those football players are now the town drunks and underachievers except Perry; he was the only one who didn’t care about her sexuality which is probably why he’s actually successful. 

When she pulls into her new house she can hear the familiar rumble of Wynonna’s motorcycle pull up behind her. Hers and Wynonna’s friendship was hard to maintain after Waverly broke her heart since Nicole never wanted to be anywhere the youngest Earp could be so they could only talk during school, at her house when her disapproving parents were gone and on the phone, they managed it and stayed in touch while Nicole was in the city and Wynonna was traveling around Europe even if Nicole had about thirty different numbers for Wynonna since she kept losing her phone.

“Haught I didn’t expect to see you back in a long time!” Nicole laughs and drops the box she’s holding on her porch.

“Yeah I’m taking over for Nedley he needs a good cop and apparently I’m the only one he trusts.” Wynonna walks over to her friend and pulls her into a hug.

“I missed you, man. I needed my wing-woman a few times, especially when it came to the boy-men in this town trying to hit on me I needed you to get them away from me!” Nicole chuckles.

“Well I’m back indefinitely do you wanna get a drink later?” the Earp nods eagerly.

“I should warn you Nic Waves is back she left for two years with Champ going around to rodeo circuits but they’re back now… and engaged.” the redhead’s breathing quickens.  _ I haven’t had a panic attack in years. _ Wynonna ushers her best friend to her blue couch “Breath Nic.” She goes through her five things exercise before she slows her breath.

“Dammit, I came back expecting her to be gone! Not engaged to the dumbass that made my life a living hell and you want to know the worst part?” she asks rhetorically before continuing. “I’m still in love with her! After three years how am I still in love with her she broke me but there is nothing I want more than to be the one she wants.” her voice gets quieter as she continues.

“I’m sorry for what she did to you Haught but I can’t change what happened or how mad I was at her for doing that to you especially after how much you cried because of it god it hurt me more than anything to watch you break and become this empty shell of yourself.” 

“W-why are you back?” 

“Traveling is fun but there’s something about this town that keeps pulling me back. It's like a drug and now that my best friend is back I have no reason to leave!” the redhead laughs and wipes the remnants of her tears away.

“Well, I need to get everything out of my car if you aren’t going to help or distract me make yourself scarce!” Wynonna rolls her eyes and gets Calamity Jane out of the car.

“Wow Nic when did you get a cat?” 

“After I got married.” Wynonna quirks her eyebrow “Yep after I graduated the academy I went to Vegas to celebrate and ended up seeing Britney live drank a lot won a hell of a lot of money when I woke up the next day me and a girl named Shae were married we got it annulled of course but we’re still friends.” Wynonna sighs and shakes her head as she walks into the house.

* * *

Later that night while they’re at Shorty’s Champ stumbles over to their table with his beer in his hand “Look the  _ Dykes _ back are you back for more beatings.” right before the boy-man stumbled over to them Nicole was telling Wynonna about her hand to hand combat training in Ireland.

“I wouldn’t do that Chump. She isn’t the same person.” Wynonna says and holds her mug out for the redhead to get her another one. Nicole slides out of the booth and saunters up to the bar “Chrissy can I get Wyn another beer?” Chrissy runs around from the bar and tackles Nicole into a hug.

  
“I missed you Nic, what happened to calling?!”

“Yeah yeah I missed you too dumbass and I couldn’t call I went to Ireland couldn’t then the academy which was a lot then I couldn’t call anyone.” the blonde takes the empty mug and fills it up for Nicole.

Ever since Nicole internship with Nedley during school hers and Chrissy’s relationship has become more of a sister like relationship which was difficult because Chrissy and Waverly are best friends she never realized it but all of her friends were Waverly’s first after they broke up Nicole only had Wynonna and sometimes Chrissy it made everything messy especially since all of their friends knew about them being together.

“Damn Ireland what for?”

“Training my specialty is now hand to hand combat.” The blonde gives her a sad smile “I already know Chris don’t worry I’ll survive even if I’m still totally in love with her.”

“I’m sorry Nic I’m still mad that she did that to you.” the redhead shrugs before grabbing the beer and walking back to the table right before she walks up to the table Champ cuts her off “What do you want Champ?”

“I’ve got three years of beating to catch up on!” Nicole puts the beer down on an empty table with a smirk.

“You don’t want to do that, Champ I’m not as weak as I used to be.” 

“I think I do.” he swings his fist towards her face but she catches it then knees him in the stomach before throwing him to the ground. “Fighting your new sheriff was a bad idea!” she steps over him as she grabs Wynonna’s beer and sits back in her seat.

“I am never going to argue with you ever again!” Nicole chuckles and relaxes in her seat.

* * *

On Nicole’s first day of being the new sheriff, Nedley gives her a quick rundown of things before giving her a quick good luck and walking out of the office.

“Alright, I’m the sheriff now!... I never expected this.” she says out loud to no one in particular before a call comes in “Sheriff Haught we’ve got a speeder coming into town in a red jeep wrangler.”

“Okay Cindy I’ll take it.” she gets out of her chair and puts on her PPD bomber jacket and her aviator sunglasses.

She finds the speeding jeep and flips on her lights and sirens the red SUV starts to pull off to the side of the road. Once they’re both stopped Nicole gets out of the car and walks over to the window. As soon as she sees the driver her heart stops. She didn’t think she would see Waverly yet but here they are. It hurts way more than she ever thought it could be her heart feels like it's breaking in two.

“License and registration.”

“N-Nic what are you doing here?”

“I’ve taken over for Nedley now license and registration.” the brunette stumbles to get her registration from her glovebox and her license from her purse. Nicole takes the documents and walks back to her cruiser as soon as the door is closed she slams her hands on the wheel. “Fuck!” she does her regular routine before returning with a ticket “Go to city hall to pay it and slow down when you’re driving.”

“Nic I’m really sorry for how-” Nicole cuts her off.

“Don’t Waverly I don’t want to hear it, have fun planning your wedding.” She walks away from the car and waits for Waverly to leave before driving back to the station. She rushes to her office and lets her tears fall from her eyes.

“Yo Haught! What’s wrong?”

“I ran into Waves.” the brunette winces and walks over to Nicole.

“What happened?”

“I gave her a speeding ticket and she tried to apologize but I cut her off because I was barely holding it together as it is then I told her to have fun planning her wedding and I came back here.” Wynonna plops down on the couch.

“I’m sorry dude are you gonna be okay?” the redhead shrugs.

“I don’t know Wyn It hurt more than I thought it would I-I don’t think I can stay especially if she gets married to  _ him _ I’m gonna find a replacement and move away maybe Texas I just need to be as far away from Waverly as possible.”

“Nic you can’t just move away because of her you need to stand up for yourself now I’m not saying you have to talk to her or even be friends but you shouldn’t have to move because of her.” the redhead nods.

“Alright I need a drink and it’s only eleven!”

* * *

As soon as Nicole gets off from work she heads to Shorty's and takes off her utility belt and uniform button-up leaving herself in a black tank top, khakis, and her combat boots. She walks into the saloon and sits at the bar “Can I get a whiskey neat Chris?” the blonde nods and serves Nicole her drink.

“Just a warning Waves is here.” the redhead takes a sip of her drink.

“It's fine as long as she doesn’t try to talk to me it’ll be fine.” Nicole sits and sips on her drink. She can see Waverly eyeing her from her booth in the corner sitting next to a scrawny caramel-skinned man with black curly hair. She ignores Waverly’s looks and finishes a second glass as she's about to pay for her drink Waverly walks up to her “Nic can we talk?”

“No Waverly we can’t you lost that chance years ago because apparently what we had wasn’t real… I just can’t talk to you. You broke me way more than I ever thought possible I don’t want to talk to you I know you might not get being gay but finding out the first person I fell in love with and lost my virginity to didn’t even like me killed me especially since I never thought I would find someone and you knew that you knew how scared I was of being single forever yet you still took advantage of me!”

“That’s not fair!”

“How is it not fair! I’m just stating the truth now please give me space. I don’t want to deal with you, the girl who is marrying the guy who broke every, single one of my ribs, broke my nose five times, and gave me ten concussions.” the redhead slams twenty dollars on the bar and storms out of the bar.

“Waves I love you but you really hurt her just listen to her and give her some space.” Chrissy tells Waverly before taking Nicole’s money and putting it in the register.

* * *

She's trying her best to completely avoid Waverly at all costs if a call comes in at Shorty’s she sends one of her officers even after work instead of going to Shorty’s for a drink she drives all the way out to Pussy Willows instead which lead to a hell of a lot of strange women flirting with her that she doesn’t want to hit on her or grinding on her lap

Wynonna has noticed her friend's new routine and she’s very concerned that Nicole will end up hurting herself from drinking too much. But every time she tries to talk to her, the redhead just shrugs her off.

“Nicole, what is wrong with you? Why are you drinking as much as me?!” Wynonna exclaims when she walks into Nicole’s house.

“I’m trying to drown my feelings with booze just like you did in high school. Being back here hurts and your sister just keeps trying to talk to me as if apologizing is going to make me magically heal!” Wynonna takes the bottle of whiskey from Nicole.

“Dude of course it's not what she put you through isn’t going to disappear it never will!... Hell, when you get married it will still plague you. It may not be as much but it will still hurt when you think about it. I know you don’t want to hear it but I think the only way it will hurt less is if you hear her out.” Nicole gives her an “Are you serious” look.

“Dude I’m serious! Just listen to her I’ll be there and if it’s too much we’ll leave I doubt she’ll have a good explanation but just listen to her you don’t have to give me an answer now but think about it… and no more drinking that’s my thing.”

As soon as Wynonna leaves Nicole starts thinking about her offer  _ Maybe listening to her is what I need. _

* * *

At work the next day Nicole tells Wynonna she wants to listen to Waverly’s reasoning so the older Earp has Waverly meet them at Shorty’s after Nicole’s shift. Nicole nervously straightens her collar and walks into the bar she immediately sees Wynonna and Waverly waiting in a booth in the back she walks over to them then immediately sits next to Wynonna.    
  
“Nic-”

“You don’t get to call me that.” Nicole corrects Waverly quickly.

“Nicole I’m so sorry that I ended us. I was scared about having feelings for a woman, especially how strong I had them for you so I ended us and I’m sorry I hurt you so much I never wanted it to end so badly I was hoping we could still be friends after-” Nicole cuts her off.

“You wanted me to be friends with the girl I was so in love with. I applied to academies wherever you applied to college so I could always be with you?”

  
“I-I didn't know that but I didn’t think you loved me you never said it.” Waverly says weakly.

“I didn’t want to rush you! Goddammit Waverly I am still in love with you!” Nicole gets out of the booth and storms out of the saloon.

As soon as she gets back to her house it hits her that she just told her ex that she’s still in love with her before she gets married to her fiancée. Her breathing quickens as she falls to the ground with a thud “Woah Haught.” Nicole didn’t even notice Wynonna follow her from the bar. The Earp sits her up and unbuttons the top three buttons. “Jesus you haven’t had a panic attack this bad in years… Breath Nic.”

“I-I told her I-I loved her w-what’s wrong w-with me?” 

“Nothing!... I know it’s not my place but Waves had quite a big smile on her face when I left. I think your outburst probably canceled her wedding.”

“N-no way she still likes me.” 

* * *

The next day at the cop shop all of her officers can see how on edge and upset she is but none of them dare to ask why. “Sheriff Haught Waverly wants to see you.” the redhead sighs and puts the pen she has in her hand down.

“Send her in.” Nicole sits up and quickly sends a message off to Wynonna.

**Nicole: I’m about to talk to your sister alone wish me luck!**

Waverly walks into the office and sits in front of Nicole. “How can I help you, Waverly?”

“Nicole I want to start over I’m not going to lie I miss being your friend you were always there with me!”

“Y-yeah I was because I was in love with and I thought maybe that would win you over I thought it worked but you left me for the guy who made my life an absolute hell I don’t think you really know how bad that hurt me!”

“I do!”

“No you don’t I wasn’t myself for years hell I even got married in a drunken haze because I was scared to be alone for the rest of my life! I never told you this but no one has ever caught my eye like you did and hell I still haven’t I can’t just start over with you! That’s why I’ve started looking for a replacement. I can’t be here anymore. I can’t watch you get married to him! I’m leaving at the end of the month on the 30th to be more exact so please just leave my office.”

“You’re leaving the day I get married?”

“I guess so now please leave.” 

* * *

As promised the thirtieth of the month Nicole is loading the last few of her boxes in the moving she truck. Before she leaves Nicole has to tell her newest deputy, Xavier Dolls, also the person who is going to take over for her that they’re going to take over for her. She didn’t want to tell him she was leaving until she knew he was good enough to take over for her. There also might have been that small bit of hope that Waverly would cancel her wedding and run into her arms but that’s just the hopeless romantic in her.

“I can’t believe you're leaving already Nic.” Wynonna says as she gets off her motorcycle.

“I can’t stay here anymore if she was gone or not getting married to Chump. I probably would have been able to stay but I can’t so I’m gonna go far far away from here and get a job at the first station I can I’ll miss you, Wyn.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

“Shouldn’t you be at the wedding?”

“Nope I don’t like Champ and I don’t need to see him stick his tongue down Waves’ throat at the end of the ceremony so I’m boycotting Gus and Curtis are upset about it but I already told Wave I’m not going to go especially if she’s marrying that boy-man.”

“I would do the same.”

“So when is all of your furniture gonna go to your new place?”

“Whenever I find one all I’m taking is my clothes, Cj, my phone, laptop, and their chargers. The less I have the easier it’ll be to travel.”

“Dude are you sure you don’t just want to stay?” 

“No I’m leaving tonight and telling X he's taking over for me there’s only one thing that’s going to make me stay but that’s never going to happen.” Wynonna smiles sadly since she knows exactly what she’s talking about but she doesn’t think her sister is going to give up having a picture-perfect straight relationship with a rodeo star.

As Nicole is taking a break from packing up her stuff she hears a knock at her door she gets up thinking it's Wynonna when the door swings open she sees a frantic Waverly still in her wedding dress waiting impatiently. “Waves aren’t you supposed to be ya know getting married?”

“I can’t get married! Well not to him at least look Nic I lied when I said I was scared of my feeling for a woman I was scared but not because you’re a woman but because you deserve so much better than the broken country girl with dead parents, an emotionally unavailable sister and so much baggage it could fill a semi-truck! I was scared to drag you down and keep you from a happy future whenever we would plan our future together I would feel guilty because you would always want to be wherever I am. That scared the crap out of me because everywhere you said you were okay with going seemed too small for you! Look at you your sexy and successful all I’ve amounted to is going on a rodeo tour!” Nicole stops her rambling and pulls her into a bruising and passionate kiss making Waverly let out the loudest and sexiest moan she has ever heard in her life.

“W-wait what about Champ.” 

“You big dummy I left him at the altar I never wanted him he just happened to ask me out when I got scared. I want you!” 

“I guess I’m not leaving then.”

“You better not.” they smile into another kiss before heading into Nicole’s bedroom.

* * *

After many hours of lovemaking and sleeping, they wake to loud banging on Nicole’s front door they groan and reluctantly slip on clothes. “Waverly I know you're in there!” Nicole can recognize the angry voice of Champ hardy yelling and screaming from the door Nicole pushes Waverly away from the sight of the door and opens it. 

“What do you want Champ?”

“Where’s my fiancée?!”

“I don’t know but she isn’t here now please leave!”

“Listen here  _ dyke _ you may have gained a bit of muscle and became insanely hot but that doesn’t mean you get to steal my girl from me!”

“Waverly isn’t your girl she isn’t anyone's especially not yours. She is too good for an insubordinate boy-man with borderline alcoholism.”   
  


“Don’t talk to me like that  _ dyke _ !” Waverly gives up waiting and steps out from the kitchen “There you are, come on babe I wanna get married!”

“I’m not getting married to you! I don’t want to, why do you think I ran? I'm in love with Nic not you please leave my girlfriend's house because we were a little busy.” Nicole sputters as Waverly closes the door in Champ’s face. 

“We never came out in high school.”   
  


“Yeah but I want everyone to know your mine!” the brunette pushes Nicole back onto the sofa and straddles the redhead “I”m going to show you just how much I love you.”  _ I remember why I missed her. _

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always apriciated!


End file.
